australian rozie

I am a latecomer to the magic of Stevie Nicks. In the 1990s, I despised Fleetwood Mac – they represented the opposite of everything I liked about music eg. electronic, repetitive beats, with no guitars or real drums. Obviously, things have changed, I don’t do raves any more and Fleetwood Mac still sell albums 30+ years later. They were featured on Glee introducing them to a new young audience (who will probably download their albums)! In the 80s, I really liked Stevie’s solo track, Stand Back (much later on I found out it was inspired by Prince’s Little Red Corvette and he performed on the song). Other than that I didn’t have much time for these rock legends. Anyway, it’s true what they say about the more you hear a song, even if you hate it, you get used to it and then you start to like it! So constantly hearing Stevie Nicks over the last 20 years finally got into my brain. Then I started working with Ms JHair and she really got me into Stevie in the workplace (I still manage to be the office music Nazi).

Anyway, about the concert. Dave Stewart was her special guest, I guess no-one really knew any of his new stuff, as the audience was pretty stiff during his performance. When the band did some Eurythmics tracks (Here Comes the Rain again, Missionary Man…), it just didn’t feel the same without Annie Lennox.

An annoucement before Stevie came on stage asked the audience not to take photos or videos of the performance (ala Bjork). But really, no – I want a momento. Sorry Stevie.

Stevie Nicks appeared right on schedule at 9pm. She was actually much better vocally than I thought she was going to be. The concert went for two hours, which I consider very good value nowadays (Janet didn’t even last an hour and a half). Stevie told us from the start that it was NOT a “greatest hits” show and she was going to play her new stuff (whether you wanted to hear it or not). I can appreciate that she would want to plug her new album, after all, she said she worked really hard on it and was immensely proud of it. Luckily, I had acquired the new album a couple of weeks ago to familiarise myself with In Your Dreams. My favourite tracks of the night were Stand Back (the opening track), Dreams, Rhiannon, Moonlight (A Vampire’s Dream), Landslide & Edge of Seventeen. You can see the entire tracklist here. I enjoyed her anecdotes from her career and explanations of her new songs. She kept making jokes about being “old” – good to see a diva who can joke about herself. I was concerned when she needed a helper guy to make sure she didn’t fall over when she wanted to bend down and shake the audience’s hand during the finale. I also saw on Facebook, that PAdam got to touch her hand! Overall, a pretty awesome concert! As Tricky Dicky Wilkins said at the Arias, she is the queen of rock n roll!

Dave Stewart

Stevie Nicks

Haven’t been tagged for a while!

So 7 things about me? I’ve decided to also give you some musical insight…

:: My top three gigs of all time are: Bros @ Sydney Entertainment Centre c. 1988, Duran Duran @ The Enmore Theatre 2003 & George Michael @ Sydney Football Stadium 2010. (Oh I have to mention Michael Jackson @ Parramatta Stadium 1987 of course, and Daft Punk @ Sydney Showground at Nevereverland 2008)

:: My first concert was at the Sydney Entertainment Centre to see Bruce Springsteen and the E Street band in 1985. I can’t remember the exact date but a google search has found a set list from the tour! I was in Year 7 and I went with my Uncle Ronald and some other relatives & his friends. There was a bit of a drama… I think my other uncle had his car broken into and his briefcase stolen (with the tickets to the show). As this was a sell-out tour, the tickets ended up being scalped! Luckily my uncle was very a-n-a-1 and had photocopied the ticketsSomehow the credit card transaction records were enough proof of purchase, so when some randoms came in and sat in our seats, they ended up getting booted out, while my uncle was “waiting in the wings” to get in! I remember being the youngest person at the concert, but really enjoying it. This began a long history of attending concerts that continues to today

:: The three concert tours that I have done a double take (attended twice) are: Michael Jackson – Bad Tour 1987, Prince – Diamonds and Pearls Tour 1992 and Kylie – Showgirl Tour 2006!

:: DJ gigs don’t count as concerts, so here are my top three DJ sets of all time: Jeff Mills @ Apollo Festival 1998, Derrick May @ The Palladium 199?, Diplo @ The Mandarin Club 2006.

:: I am bummed that Australian Idol got axed. Luckily, it was not around when I was a teenager or I would have been one of those terribly off-key wannabe’s embarrassing themselves on national television.

:: Even though I have worn ear-plugs to parties/gigs/clubs for the past 15 years, I’ve still managed to develop tinnitus and must go into retirement

:: I will come out of retirement if Underground Resistance play in Sydney!

On Saturday night I dragged R&R and Honka Princess to an event called Midas Touch. Billed as:
MIDAS TOUCH – A HUGE SALUTE TO THE 80’S!

2 hours of the finest 80’s funk classics from the masters including Earth Wind & Fire, The Mac Band, De barge, Rick James, Luther Vandross, Whitney Houston, Midnight Star, The Whispers and many more!

I thought this would be a lot of fun. I love 80s music as it is and 80s funk is even better! Unfortunately when we arrived, the vibe was more Hen’s night than funky town. The venue was called Notes, I think it’s pretty new, I didn’t even know it existed but it’s just across the road from the Enmore Theatre on Enmore Road. It kind of reminded me of The Basement, but a bit newer and cleaner! They even do the dinner and show thing! The flyer claimed that Notes was a sexy venue, it’s not that sexy! Anyway, by the time we arrived the band Harlem Knights lead by vocalists, Mike Champion & Berni Love had already started. They dropped some great tunes from Luther Vandross, Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, Chaka Khan, Lionel Richie, The Pointer Sisters etc etc. Nasser T was the support DJ, apparantly Sydney’s #1 80s DJ, I thought I was #1 ha ha (or is he Sydney’s best 80s funk DJ?). Anyway, the first track he dropped (yes, on vinyl) was Billie Jean, remember what I said about dropping a Michael Jackson track? He played some cool 80s funk tunes (Forget Me Nots) and some really bad 80s tunes (Rick Astley). Random. Anyway, seemed everyone had a fun time and by the end of the night all the band’s friends had jumped on stage to sing and dance with them!

Saturday night of the week before was quite a contrast. We went to The Forum at EQ to checkout Surgeon. Sub Bass Snarl were on when we arrived dropping their classic, crunchy beats. Surgeon played a hard, banging techno set. It was pretty full-on and I have to say that although Ms Obsessed with Lots of Things was in ecstasy (in, not on, he he), I just kind of felt… old. The only track I trainspotted was Jeff Mills, could do better. I’d seen him before at a big rave in Melbourne about 7 years ago when I was a bit more up-for-it. It was nice to see lots of old faces and catch up with friends. I used to love going out to parties with hard, banging music, but now I prefer to go back to the old old school tunes!

Here’s the complete set list and a download from Surgeon’s blog if you are up for it:
http://dj-surgeon.blogspot.com/2010/10/surgeon-at-forum-sydney-australia-23rd.html

Got some commercial music bargain deals at JB Hi-fi on the weekend.
Aphrodite – new Kylie – with dvd as well.
Celebration – Madonna (I know, I’ve already got every track on previous albums – vinyl, tape, cd, mp3 etc but it’s nice to have it altogether in this collection + there’s a mini poster)
It’s not me, it’s you – Lily Allen – hey it was only $9.99
Crystal Visions – The Very Best of Stevie Nicks – I’m not ashamed ;P

Can I claim this as a work related expense? Unfortunately, they don’t get into Detroit techno in the office.

For our niche circle of Detroit techno fandom, it was great to see Robert Hood finally come to Sydney again after many years and a cancellation a couple of years ago. The last time he was here, was 1992 with legendary Underground Resistance at a rave called Flight 303 which I think was held at the former Graffiti Hall of Fame. Unfortunately, I missed that gig as I was busy promoting my own rave which was on the next night. I remember getting a call at Disco City records (who were selling our tickets) asking for all of Underground Resistance’s names on the door of my party! I don’t think they turned up. I wish I could find a decent link about Disco City record store in Sydney this is the only thing I could find that name checks Disco City Records. Anyway back to the gig, Disconnected Presents 002: Robert Hood. I am so out of the scene, I didn’t even know or care who the promoter was and/or who the supports were, I just wanted to see Rob Hood. At least we didn’t do the true trainspotter thing and turn up 5 minutes before his set. The “new” venue was the former Empire/Palladium/Les Girls in Kings Cross – we have been to many, many great parties there, but haven’t been in there for about 10 years! So what can I say about Robert Hood’s set… he played a solid, hard, techno set, just what I expected, wanted and got. After about 2 hours he started to drop some more melodic, funky tracks but by then my steam had run out. I think everyone had a good time, especially the guy in the open shirt who kept gyrating near Ames, Mel & I. We lasted until almost 4am which is a recent record for me! Ms Melody kindly gave us a lift home. Dave made me some toast while we watched the start of the USA vs Ghana World Cup match before crashing out until lunch time on Sunday. Am I/I am too old for this $hit???

Robert Hood Sat. 26th June @ Plantation, Kings Cross, Sydney 2010

One of my (many) favourite tv shows, Australian Idol, has finished for another year. I am happy that Wes won the “crown”, the recording contract, the money and the car. Any guy who unashamedly impersonates Michael Jackson in front of a Jackson (Jermaine) and has no shame about idolising the “King of Pop” deserves to win this musical cheese-fest! Hello, cousin Peter – owner of Michael Jackson Live in Bucharest DVD.
This year, the final was held entirely outside of the Sydney Opera House… was it double booked? This usually is an ideal location for such special events except for the fact that it rained all night. I was worried someone might slip over while singing and dancing. Summer? Anyone… anyone…?
Anyway, I enjoyed seeing all the top 12 singing together again, there was lots of back slapping and hugging.
• The female finalists sang I’m Every Woman (getting a bit bored of this song).
• I hated what Roshani Priddis wore on stage (sorry can’t find a pic at the moment), but it was a hidaecious black & white strapless dress with long gloves ensemble, very similar to what she wore on one of her finals performance that Kyle said was a bad look.
• I still think that Madam Parker has got something going for her – hope she gets some work out of this.
• Jess Mauboy (Idol runner up in 2006) performed her new single and she looks and sounds pretty hot, I think they are trying to make her the Australian RiRi.
• Casey Chambers performed her special country music with the two finalists – Wes & Luke, she looked pretty bad, the poor thing.
• It was interesting to see how the tally room works and finding out that every second, two hundred and something votes were being recorded (ka-ching). What the hell was going on with Tim Bailey’s hair!!! It was not a good look on him.
• Must give an honourable mention to the hosts Andrew G and James Mathison. I think they do a really good job of hosting a live tv show where anything can go wrong (and it often does throughout the season). They manage to fill dead air or make a quick joke to cover someone else’s lame comment. It was gold when they made fun of Jermaine Jackson saying “Touchdown”. I hope they came up with that themselves… I don’t know, maybe someone writes their jokes for them…
So, a fairly enjoyable season of Idol in 2008, but not the greatest. I think that Season One was the best.